High
Touch Luxury T Bar M Resort
Kicks Up Direct Booking Using Maestro ResWave with Campaigns
That Generate
Impressive Reservations Through Social Channels

February 13, 2013 –
“Communicating with guests online is the key
to loyalty, repeat guests, and attracting new business today,” said
Jonathon
Lopez, the person responsible for Marketing and Social Media at the T
Bar M.
The T Bar M is a luxury resort in New Braunfels, Texas, which is in
between Austin
and San Antonio that is growing business through an active presence on
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media sites. Its secret
for
converting social media conversations to bookings is enabling guests to
make reservations
directly on its social media channels.

Independents Focus on Direct Online
Channels
in 2013 to Lower Costs

A recent industry
report published by HeBS
Digital emphasizes the importance of expanding direct online
booking channels.
The Digital Marketing report states: 'Independent hoteliers must budget
for a
major expansion in their direct online channel efforts…in 2013 if they
want to
decrease their over-dependence on the OTAs and the bottom-line killing
flash
sales sites such as Groupon, Living Social, etc., and last-minute
discounters
such as HotelTonight.com.'

With
a feature-rich website, high-quality images,
user-friendly Maestro ResWave Booking Engine, social media links, and
detailed,
up-to-date property information, T Bar M attracts a record number of
new guests
and groups while increasing repeat business.

Successful guest engagement strategy
thrives with
Social Media

T Bar M created its
successful online engagement strategy on the most popular channels
first.
“Facebook and Twitter are my top channels, but we also have a presence
on Pinterest,
Foursquare, Instagram, and TripAdvisor and Yelp,” Lopez said. T Bar M
uses the Maestro
property
management system and ResWave online
booking engine for both guest and group reservations directly from
its
website.

All operators have an online ecosystem that determines the
quality of guest interactions. Without an understanding of their
ecosystems,
operators will fail to connect behind-the-scenes activities to
customer
interactions that lead to long term profit potential. T Bar M stays
ahead of its
competitors with an effective multi-channel guest-engagement approach.

New Media – Be Where Your Guests Are
to
Increase New & Repeat Bookings

“ResWave
is portable and we have it on our Facebook page so visitors can book
without interrupting
their social engagement. When it comes to Facebook, I don’t want to
just accumulate
Facebook fans, Lopez said. “I want to post material that fans want to
see and
interact with them. I want our fans to remember us for their next
vacation or
event.”

T Bar M created two Facebook
specials last summer for Fourth of July and Labor Day targeting fans
and
‘friends of fans,’ to attract first-time visitors. “The specials that
targeted
fans and friends of fans jumped our exposure to many people who had not
stayed
with us. The reason we target friends of fans is that new visitors
usually
contact friends who have stayed at T Bar M as a trusted information
source. I read
all of our reviews on TripAdvisor and Yelp and respond to each review.
We get
5% of our reservations through social channels.”

Lopez worked T Bar
M’s front desk for two years before he took over Marketing and Social
Media. “I
watched the number of guests who use smartphones and tablets to book
rooms increase,”
he said. “Our website is mobile-optimized for these travelers. The
Maestro
ResWave online booking engine is also mobile-ready which makes it easy
for
guests and group members to book rooms directly from every page of T
Bar M’s
website.”

For a demo of the
Maestro Property Management Suite featuring the ResWave Booking Engine,
please
contact NORTHWIND at 1.888.667.8488 or email info@maestropms.com.

Exchange ideas and connect
with NORTHWIND
on:

About T Bar M

Stay at T Bar M
Resort and Conference Center when you visit New Braunfels in the Texas
Hill
Country. Book your choice of accommodations — resort hotel, a spacious
villa,
or private Sunday haus. T Bar M resort and conference facilities are
perfect
for family vacations or corporate meetings. We have something for
everyone:
tennis, golf, a lushly landscaped pool, massage therapy, movies,
biking/jogging
trails, sports facility and sports fields. For reservations go to www.TBarM.com

About NORTHWIND –
Maestro PMSNORTHWIND
is recognized in the hospitality industry for its standard-setting
Diamond Plus
Service and robust integrated Maestro resort hotel software technology.With
over 30 years’ experience dedicated to developing technology solutions
for the
hospitality industry, NORTHWIND is a partner who understands you need a
scalable, flexible PMS that works the way you do.Maestro applications are engineered for
operators who need to manage their enterprise in a real-time
environment for
the utmost operational efficiency, productivity, control, and
profitability.